Surviving College

Surviving College

Surviving your first year at college is very hard. You miss your high school friends, your significant other, and your family. In college the first quarter is going to be stressful because you have to balance everything in one day. I found an article that has many good suggestions about surviving the first year at college, but there are more to it then what is in the article.
Matthew Schieltz wrote a short, but some what down-to-the-point article on how to survive your first year at college. This article was published on a website called associated content, and the name of the article is surviving your first year at college. In the first paragraph of the article, he writes about how it will be hard to leave your high school friends and family. In the second paragraph he starts to get into how shy you are when you first arrive to the campus and when you meet everyone. His third paragraph is called “Making Allies.” He says to make friends with your roommate first. The friends you make in school are the ones who help you when you are really homesick. His fourth paragraph is called “Attending Classes.” Schieltz says to attend every class even though some of your friends might not. Attending all your classes will help you on the tests and will help you understand the material better. In the concluding paragraph he states to enjoy the college experience, relax, realize why you are at college, and that life after high school has begun.
In the article, I think it is well organized. He starts off at the end of high school and then goes into what to expect freshman year. I don’t think the article flows very well, because it goes from making friends to going to all your classes. I think he could have added more to the article about surviving the first year. The article is not hard to read at all. It reads like a high school student would have written it. Schieltz is speaking to the reader as if it is a lecture. He makes it seem that I am sitting in a classroom listening to him, to me he is talking down to the reader because he has already gone to college.
Schieltz has some good advice and some bad advice in his article. His good advice is that it is important to make friends with your roommate and other people on your floor. I agree with this because these are the people that will help you through your ups and downs. You have to live with your roommate so it is good to make friends with them. Going to all your classes is more good advice, because it you miss a class you miss out on a lot of information. I also agree with this, because if you miss a class you will not get the information you need when the exam comes around. Schieltz bad advice is leaving your high school friends and your high school sweetheart. I don’t agree with this because if you make the time you will be able to see your high school sweetheart. Your friends are going through the same thing as you are, and they will miss you to.
Being in the last quarter of freshman year, I feel really relieved because I know I achieved a goal that my parents always knew I could achieve. I do miss all my high school friends but I’ve meet so many more friends in college. You don’t have to live on campus to have to meet friends and experience college life. Living close to campus you have the opportunity to drive to campus and hang out with friends or party. Since being in school for three quarters I’ve learned that I need to change my study habits, spend more time on homework, and open up to meet more friends. After I read Schieltz article, I am doing most of what his article states.
Without college in today’s society is a big deal. You can’t get a good job without a college degree. Everyone is going to have to experience their first year in college, but they will do it in their own way. They may agree with Matthew’s article or mine. College is nothing to be scared about but it has a great outcome. Like Matthew stated your life after high school has officially begun.